Felony charges have been filed after a single vehicle crash late Friday afternoon in which one man was airlifted with serious injuries. Trooper Goldsmith said that six people were traveling in a 2002 Dodge Durango on White Oak Road just off the NC 105 bypass near the Watauga CCC&TI
campus when the vehicle, instead of making the sharp turn onto Knowles Haven Lane, went straight and off of the road where it slammed into trees. There were some injuries from that initial 4:30pm crash, according to Goldsmith, but then the woman driving that he identified as Kathy Ann Richards, 41, backed the vehicle away from the crash scene and drove to her Swamp Fox Road residence. In the process, according to Goldsmith, one of her passengers, 48-year old Michael Brass, who lived at the Swamp Fox Road residence, was either run over by the vehicle or fell from the vehicle, suffering the serious injuries that caused him to be airlifted to the Johnson City Medical Center. Boone Fire and Watauga Medics responded to the scene, the Fire Department setting up a landing zone for WINGS Air Rescue on the adjacent property of the Watauga Campus of CCC&TI. With no vehicle from the wreck at the scene, a bulletin was issued for the Dodge, and it was found and stopped on King Street by Boone Police, and while it took a day for Trooper Goldsmith to sort out the details of the incident, he ended up charging Kathy Ann Richards with Felony Hit and Run, Driving While Impaired by some substance, and Careless & Reckless Driving. Her bond was set at $40,000, while Goldsmith charged a passenger he identified as her boyfriend, 43-year old Brian Barker, with Aiding and Abetting Felony Hit and Run, Giving Fictitious information to an officer, and Resist, Obstruct or Delay an Officer, charges that Goldsmith said led to a $20,000 bond and to his probation being revoked, and he went to jail. Others injured in the crash were not seriously hurt according to Goldsmith.